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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

I have a pair of hedders and a gasket set for my 528i, purchased from ebay of course (who wants to pay 1000 dollars for supersprint hedders for a car that costs 6k on a good day :P) and I'm having a hard time finding a good removal guide for a dummy like me. Does anyone know of a good guide? If not could any one give me pointers on how to remove them? It's so cramped I don't know whether to approach from underneath of from the top, and the nuts are so hard to reach what tool could I possibly use?
If I end up being able to complete the job I'll be sure to make an illustrated guide

I've actually been outside wrenching away at the car and have managed to remove one of the manifolds! The second will be off in no time :P. Does anyone think there is a need for a guide? I could post pictures and tips for removal, or is it unneeded?

Well now I've hit a wall. I've removed all the nuts from the front manifold and broken the nuts loose underneath and pull the little plate back that held both manifolds together. But now it seems that the rest of the exhaust system connects to the manifold via a pair of studs. the whole system is too rigid to flex enough to allow the flange to slip off these studs. I guess this is more of a general BMW exhaust question now, but does anyone have a tip for either removing the studs or making the whole system slack enough to slide it off the studs?
Please reply!

Okay, I've gotten everything unbolted and loose, now I just have the manifolds loose in their small engine bay area. But now I can't remove them, tried for quite a while to shift them around, but nothing worked. Does anyone know if it is ACTUALLY possible to remove the manifolds without lifting then engine??

I just changed the manifolds on my 97 528I a month ago. "Lucky" for me fhe manifold bolts were so rust welded to the studs that the whole stud unscrewed when turning the nuts....my manifolds just slid right out lol...my biggest problem was th two nuts on the flange. I guess what Im saying ( and someone else may know the propper way to remove them without going this route) is maybe try removing the studs...just know they will need to be replaced cuz you will surely chew up the threads.
Just an option if all else fails

Whoooaa.....unscrewing the studs is very simple versus jacking up the engine or cutting up the manifolds. Buy ya a dozen studs for $20 and 10 minutes later you're done ! I couldn't imagine all the hoses, fittings and brackets that you'd crack/break jacking up the engine... Maybe someone else will chime in, but I say from experience (recent experience) just unscrew the studs...piece o' cake.